Mariam was a sixth-grader in Toronto when her family started pressuring her to get engaged. They sent her on a summer trip to their native Pakistan, ostensibly to study but actually to meet a fiance chosen by her aunt. When she protested after returning home, she said, her mother kept insisting and wearing her down.
�She cried a lot. She prayed loudly to God that I would change. She refused to speak to me for days. She told me the family�s honor was at stake,� recounted Mariam, now 20, who asked that her last name not be published. �I wanted to finish school and go to college, but at times I almost said yes, just so she would stop crying.�
Finally, when she turned 17, Mariam decided to leave home � an unthinkable act in her culture. With encouragement from a women�s rights group, she slipped out early one morning, taking a small bag. No shelter would accept her, because she had not been physically abused, and she felt racked with guilt and loneliness. Eventually, though, she found housing, friends and a measure of emotional independence.
Today, Mariam is active in a growing movement in the United States and Canada to promote public awareness and legal protections for victims of forced marriage.
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